OMG I don't believe it, our shirts and dresses came out FANTASTIC!!!! They are still in the wash, I just rinsed them out so I will post some pics tomorrow when they are all dry.
I thought my yellow and orange would get taken over by the black and turn into Jabba-the-Hut green/brown but no, the colors are all visible and clearly defined and it has just as much white as I wanted! I'm thrilled!!!
My mickeys are all well defined, I think I will be able to return my bleach pen to the store!
The only problem I have is I got a small hole in one shirt, I think I must have pulled the floss too tight before I cut it off. Hopefully I can stitch it closed without it looking too bad, it is right where the left ear meets the head of the Mickey.
My tips:
1) Don't cut the floss off right at the knot- go ahead and leave the long strands hanging after puckering and tying off the Mickey. It will be easier to grasp to cut after the dye process and you may be less prone to cause a hole. (I had cut the floss off right at the knot in the shirt that got the hole and that is why I believe I got the hole- that the knot got pulled right through the fabric of the shirt!)
2) Be sure when you leave your shirts to cure that you place them right-side (Mickey side) up. This might be common sense but it bears repeating. If you have a dominant color, like I did with the black, it will follow the course of gravity and seep to the bottom and take over. In my case this was the back of my shirts and dresses, so it just made for a very black heavy back, but it could be disaster if you inadvertently placed your shirts Mickeys down.
3) Use an old towel or fabric of some sort direclty under your "cinnamon roll" while you are dyeing. I just had plastic garbage bags under mine and the excess liquid would puddle and flow easily making a bigger mess than it already was, plus if I set a corner of the "bun" down to get leverage, the colors already puddling there were so quick to splash around the undyed parts of the shirt. Had there been something absorbent underneath the spread of excess dye would have been slightly more controlled and much less sloppy.
Also, it was really difficult to twist the shirt just on a thin layer of plastic. The whole thing (plastic and all)was spinning making it extremely difficult to get a tight spiral going.
Can't wait to share pics. I am so grateful for everyone sharing their knowledge and experiences- it will be so gratifying to say "I made it!" when people ask about my shirt!
